Trailer light connector systems are well known in the art. The systems differ slightly depending upon the type of towing vehicle.
In a pickup truck for example, the factory installs as original equipment electrical wiring for the cab and electrical wiring for the chassis. The cab wiring and chassis wiring are electrically interconnected by a plug having male terminals and a plug having female terminals cooperatively coupled as a plug set to complete the electric circuit therebetween.
A T-shape connector may selectively be interposed between the plugs of the plug set to retain the overall vehicle circuit while providing a tap for electrical power to a trailer. T-shape connectors of this type have been commercially available from the assignee of the present invention and from its predecessor in interest, Olathe Automotive Wiring Company. This prior art T-shape connector included a plurality of individual insulated wires extending outwardly from the T-shape connector body for the trailer tap. These insulated tap wires from the T-shape connector body were then hard wired to the vehicle end of a trailer wire harness extending rearwardly to the trailer. This hard wiring of the trailer tap to the trailer wire harness was inconvenient and time consuming and required care and experience in matching the tap wires of the T-shape connector to like wires in the trailer wiring harness. In addition, at times, special tools, such as a soldering gun, were required to complete the hard wiring process.
When the towing vehicle is a car, the insulated electrical wires leading to the left and right bank of car tail lights respectively run along the left and right hand side of the trunk space. The prior art connection systems include individual wires from the trailer harness or a trailer harness extension. These individual wires have clips on the ends thereof, with these clips being individually clipped onto the vehicle wires in the trunk. The clips include barbs to penetrate the wire insulation and contact the conductor. These individual clip connections were inconvenient and time consuming to install and did not always provide a reliable electrical connection.